


This is Our Get-Along Mushroom

by Makari Crow (Beanna)



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: F/M, Gen, Tales of Secret Santa 2017, daily reminder that & is platonic, kind of ensemble but mostly it's about the trouble twins, the shipping is background radiation and longing stares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 03:11:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13137855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beanna/pseuds/Makari%20Crow
Summary: Set during the Mushroom Road sidequest. Luke manages to drag Asch home with them. Awkward family dinner ensues; Luke and Asch find something on which they can agree, and somehow, the world keeps turning.





	This is Our Get-Along Mushroom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kelette](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kelette/gifts).



> Written for the Tales (of) Secret Santa 2017 gift exchange. For Kel! (kel-is-here@tumblr) Cheers, stranger. I hope you get a smile out of it. Happy Holidays!

Asch seemed as surprised to see them as they were. And then he got defensive. Like wanting to help get the medicine for Mother was something to be ashamed of, just because suddenly there were other people there.

Because Luke was there, probably.

Same old, same old. Luke hunched his shoulders up and lingered at the back of the group, well aware he’d only make things worse. “Then I’ll stay here,” he said, all in a rush when Jade suggested leaving someone behind. Luke didn’t like the look of the area anyway, and Asch would do just as well taking care of everything as Luke would, if not better.

“Why you, Luke—?”

Luke tried to indicate to Tear that things would be _way_ harder if he and Asch were trying to be in the same area and not fight each other, but it was difficult to say something like that with facial expressions alone. He shrugged. “Asch and I fight the same way,” he said instead, justifying that way. “It’d be better for one of us to stay behind, and… we can communicate with each other, so…”

“ _Are you listening to me_ ,” Asch demanded.

Luke very carefully did not say anything about that, and flopped down beside an alarmingly tall mushroom instead. “Just be careful.”

The waiting was the worst part. Some of the mushrooms jiggled without being touched, and one puffed out some spores, and all Luke had to think about was how Mother was doing, and what could go wrong for Asch and Tear and the others, and maybe volunteering to stay behind was the worst plan. Luke got to his feet. Paced. Sat down again. He was on his feet pacing again when the others came back, looking not very much worse for wear. Asch had a modestly sized mushroom tucked under one arm, and he was ahead of the group, stalking toward Luke. “I found it, replica.”

Uh-oh. Had Asch heard him worrying?

Asch stopped in front of Luke. There was a quick eye-flick of sizing him up, and a sneer Luke knew exceptionally well, and then Asch shoved the mushroom at Luke’s chest. Reflexively Luke’s hands came up to hold on to it.

There was a moment where Asch almost seemed like he might not frown. Luke couldn’t quite make sense of what Asch’s face was doing. “…take care of Mother,” Asch said finally, and all abruptly his expression was hard again, and he let go of the mushroom.

The weirdly final tone, so at odds with the rest of what Asch was acting like, made Luke hesitate, and he almost missed Asch brushing by him dismissive and bristling.

Almost.

Without completely conscious intent, he snagged Asch’s wrist. “ _Hey_.”

Asch stopped. The look he turned on Luke could have poisoned water. “What.”

Luke almost faltered. Almost. Indignation kindled an irritated light in his chest. “Where do you think you’re going?” he demanded instead.

“Tch.” Asch pulled his hand from Luke’s weakening grip, folded his arms. “You can take things from here. I have other things to do.”

_Idiot_ went unsaid, but Luke understood that it was there anyway.

“What’s more important than Mother,” Luke snapped. It was the only thing he could think of that would work. The rest of the group had come up on them by this time, but he ignored them for Asch.

“I’m not going home with you.” Asch made to turn away, but Luke shoved the mushroom back at him, and Asch had to grab it or risk damaging it unduly.

“Then don’t.” Luke folded his arms, realized the mirroring, and promptly unfolded them so he could back up and sit down cross-legged. “Take the mushroom back to Mother, and I’ll stay here again. That way you don’t have to go with me.”

Asch stared at him. Luke stared back, teeth grit. He knew he was being stupid, but Asch was being stupid too, dammit. “You think everything is about you,” Asch started, low and nasty with the way his voice rasped.

A quiet stamp drew Luke’s attention, as he’d learned to fear it, where Asch hadn’t. “Ooooh, I have had _enough_ of you two,” Anise announced, putting her hands on her hips. Behind her, Natalia had adopted a similar posture; Tear looked very much like she wanted nothing to do with this whatsoever. 

Asch turned now to stare at Anise, disbelieving.

Anise narrowed her eyes, doubling down, and lifted a hand only to gesture threateningly with a fist. “Both of you are getting back in the Albiore this instant, _or else_.”

Luke got up, not wanting to find out what Anise would fill in for an or else.

“Or what,” Asch said, still all blunt disbelief.

Anise’s threatening fist turned into a threatening reach for the plush doll slung across her shoulders.

“Asch,” Natalia put in, more softly, a note of concern threading through her voice.

Hard to say if it was Natalia or the threat of having to fight multiple people which made Asch stand down. He turned his face away anyway. “Tch. Fine, we’ll both take it to her. Are you happy?”

“ _Thank you_ ,” Anise snapped, and sniffed, and drew herself together with a cheerful smile like flipping a switch.

Luke was, actually, kind of pleased with this, but knew better than to say so aloud.

Guy gave Anise an especially wide berth on the short walk back to the Albiore.

If Noelle was surprised that Asch came back with them, she didn’t show it, and there was enough room in the Albiore anyway. Luke had buckled in already when Asch shoved the mushroom at him again.

Luke caught it with a quiet _oof_. That was way more force than necessary. “Hey—” he started, as Asch paced away.

Quite innocently, Jade took the seat Asch had been aiming for, leaving Asch little recourse but to fall back toward where Luke was, and take a seat near him. Near enough it made Asch scowl, anyway.

A lot of things made Asch scowl.

Awkwardly full silence persisted long after Albiore was in the air. Natalia kept darting quick glances backward, and Asch tried to pretend like he wasn’t looking at her at all. To be fair, Luke supposed he only noticed this because he’d been in Asch’s head, and it had been impossible not to notice the way his gaze sometimes just… tracked Natalia.

Luke thought of things to say, and discarded all of them, and adjusted his grip on the weird mushroom more times than necessary, till there was a faint gray dust of spores across half his jacket. “You’re still looking for the Jewel?” he tried finally, not quite looking directly at Asch.

Asch shook his head, not so much a no as it was a dismissal. “Do you think I’d still be carrying the Sword alone if I’d found it?”

Oh. Right. Luke had seen the strange shape of the sword, but he hadn’t given it much observation or thought. “How’m I supposed to know what the Key looks like when it’s completed?”

“Tch. Idiot.”

That concluded that conversation. Luke tucked one leg up and stared at the back of Guy’s head. He still couldn’t quite bear the way the quiet pressed on him. “Where haven’t you checked? We could—”

“I _don’t need your help.”_

It sparked something, in Luke, and he tried not to hold the mushroom too tightly as he whirled on Asch. …As much as the seats allowed. “Why _not_? You’re being—”

“Children,” Jade interrupted, with the deceptively light tone of voice Luke had long since learned about.

Luke closed his mouth. Jade had turned to observe both of them, and there was a thinly pleasant smile on his face (terrifying) and his glasses were catching the Albiore’s lights (also, improbably, terrifying). Asch favored him with an ill-tempered glare right back, which Jade didn’t seem to notice in the slightest. “I do hope you remember why we went looking for this mushroom in the first place,” Jade went on cheerfully. “If you keep acting like this, why, I don’t envy Madam Fabre her squabbling toddlers.”

The reminder of their mother’s poor health had both Luke and Asch tongue-tied for some few moments. Luke wondered if he could sink through the floor if he used a hyperresonance.

Asch, instead of bothering with being ashamed, rallied his ill temper at Jade. “Why do you think I didn’t want to come with you?”

“I’m sure I couldn’t fathom,” Jade said, still with that same sort of threatening pleasantness.

It was Asch that looked away first, with an annoyed _hmph_ as he did, like it wasn’t that Jade had beaten him but that Asch had no patience to fight in the first place.

“But it’ll make Mother happy to see you,” Luke put in, hopeful. “She’s missed you. Just you being there might help her get better faster—”

“I’ve said what I needed to say.” In profile, Asch’s mouth turned down. Troubled, Luke thought, but exceptionally close to angry. “There’s no point in me going back.”

“What do you _mean_ there’s no point?” Luke made to get up and was rudely yanked back down by seatbelts. “Dammit, I’m tired of you not explaining things and then yelling at me for not knowing things. What’s _wrong_ with you?”

Asch whipped to look at Luke so fast it looked like it hurt, and he looked like he was about to say something, but quite abruptly Tear was there, having abandoned safety precautions to interpose herself. She stood with an ease born of Noelle’s steady piloting and her own self-assurance, and she looked all _kinds_ of annoyed. “That’s enough,” she said, or snapped, for it was as close as Tear got to yelling in her way. “Luke, stop bothering him. Asch, think about what you’re dismissing so easily. Can’t both of you even _pretend_ to get along for ten minutes?”

“There’s a thought,” Jade said cheerfully, unconcerned where he leaned. Only his eyes told the lie to it, the lazy cool regard set on Tear, and Luke wondered briefly if that was why Jade was so good at catching the light with his glasses. Not important; the thought was gone as soon as it came. “You’re the commander of special operations, Asch. Surely you have experience with covert assignments. Now, Luke’s competence or lack thereof is one thing—”

“ _Hey.”_ Luke couldn’t really argue it, but he wanted the objection noted anyway.

“—but you, certainly, should have the skills to pretend you’re someone who doesn’t hate Luke, at least for a little while.”

“This wouldn’t be an issue if _he_ hadn’t insisted in the first place.” Luke didn’t have to look to hear the accusing point.

Jade spread one hand out to the side in a little shrug. “Well, you’re here now. What’s it going to be?”

The question hung in the air answerless; but it was Asch who blinked first, and nodded all short and jerky, and that was that.

 

* * *

 

Asch tried again to contest the point when they got to the manor, stopping still in the path and staring up at the wrought-metal gates like all the miasma of the Qliphoth waited behind them.

Luke was probably being overdramatic about the thoughts he put to the sneer on Asch’s face; but the fact remained Asch looked very much like he wanted to turn around and leave. “This is pointless,” Asch announced a moment later. “I said I wasn’t going home, and nothing’s changed even with you badgering me about it.”

The group of them were stalled around him, arrayed across the pale stone in various attitudes of irritation. Luke shifted the mushroom uncomfortably. It was an awkward size to hold, and Mother needed it, and Asch was being— _ugh_.

“Come _on.”_ Luke took a few quick steps forward, and, when Asch tensed, rolled his eyes and shoved the mushroom into Asch’s arms. “The sooner you get this over with, the sooner you can run away again, all right?”

He knew it was stupid the moment it was out of his mouth, he didn’t need Asch’s angry half-step toward him to tell him _that_. At least Asch couldn’t draw a sword with his hands full of mushroom. Luke took a quick backstep and shook his head. “Later, okay? This isn’t _about_ us.”

Something conflicted flickered in Asch’s expression before hiding under his scowl. “Fine,” Asch ground out, and pushed past Luke to stalk stiff-legged into the manor.

Luke didn’t follow him immediately, and Natalia came up beside him, eyes dark and troubled. “I wonder if it’s really so bad for him, being back here.”

“I don’t _get_ it.” Luke ruffled his hair up with the frustration of it, then absently smoothed it back down before anyone could get on his case about it. “He’s so mad at me for taking his place and he doesn’t even want to be here.”

Natalia didn’t have an answer for that, only glanced away, and Luke immediately felt about three times smaller. “…Sorry. Natalia—”

“We should see Aunt Susanne,” Natalia said, right over Luke’s apology with that way she had of delicately bulling through the distasteful, and she moved off with boot-heels tapping a precise rhythm on the stone. Anise went after her, half-skipping before she remembered to be solemn, and the rest of them trailed in slowly.

Tear lingered a little longer, eyes on Luke, and she seemed like she might say something before Luke hurried to catch up. “I know,” he said to her, grimacing. He knew he hadn’t handled that gracefully at all. He’d fix it later. He hoped. “Let’s just— go.”

By the time they caught up to the others Asch had already disappeared with Ramdas to oversee the brewing up of the mushroom — apparently his distrust of other peoples’ skills was general, not completely specific to Luke — and Guy was talking something serious with Pere, and Luke didn’t really want to approach Natalia about the Asch problem right now, which left him with very little to do but pace and worry.

(Anise watched, but not in the way that made Luke feel she was about to go through his pockets, so that was… nice.)

Asch appeared again before very long. Luke half-expected to see sleeves rolled up and hair tied back, but that was a stupid thought— Asch was as armored and closed-off as ever. “The doctor’s seeing to Mother now,” Asch said, brusque, not really addressed to anyone in particular. “You’ll be allowed to see her in a little bit.”

“We,” Luke put in.

Asch focused on him with reluctance and annoyance both. “You don’t need me for this.”

Luke folded his arms. Moved to block the door. It might be childish, but he didn’t think Asch was about to make a scene right there, and sure enough Asch just looked away with a disgusted sound.

Yeah. That was about right.

No one else wanted to step into the middle this time, though Natalia cast concerned glances their way now and then. What broke the oppressively awkward silence was the door behind Luke, and the doctor’s announcement that Madam Fabre would be just fine, and she’d like to see her son.

Luke looked at Asch. Asch eyeballed Luke.

“ _Honestly_ ,” Anise said, and pushed past them both.

Mother was sitting on the edge of her bed, when Luke and Asch finally finished their wordless negotiations of who would make it through the door first. She smiled to see them both, though it was one of the quiet careworn ones, and the lines at the corners of her eyes were more pronounced than Luke had ever seen them.

Just as quickly it faded, though, as she put together where her medicine had come from. “Luke,” she said, reproachful. She didn’t need to rise to chide them. “Don’t tell me you went somewhere dangerous for this.”

The solution appeared bright and glowing and Asch-shaped. Luke gestured to his side, indicating Asch. “I didn’t do anything,” he said, almost entirely truthfully. “He went and got it with everyone else.”

“You—” Asch had half-rounded on Luke before he recalled himself and stopped, making an effort to put a good face on things for Mother. There was a smile, or— well, there was an absence of a sneer, anyway. “—it wasn’t that much danger.”

Mother looked between them, eyes all serious, and Luke wondered if she believed him. “…Thank you,” she said at length, one hand over her heart, and didn’t question them.

Luke let his breath out, then realized too late that was probably a dead giveaway that he’d been worried about something.

Mother gave him the tiniest smile. “Luke, will you go draw the curtains? And Luke, come here for a moment, please.”

Somehow, Luke didn’t have any question about which one of them she meant for which. There was something just a little bit different about the intonations she put on them. With a sigh he went to the window, fumbling for the cords to tie back the heavy brocade.

Asch stood frozen, Luke saw when he cast a look back over his shoulder, until Anise planted one firm hand in the small of his back and he stumbled forward.

“I’m going to go see if Rammy has a pigeon I can borrow,” Anise announced then, and whirled on her heel with a quick snap of her tabard, snagging Tear by the arm. “Come on, Tear.”

“What—? Oh.” Tear stumbled but went with her; and Jade, lazy but amused, grabbed Guy by the shoulder, steering him. It cut the people in the room down to just Luke and Asch and Natalia.

Natalia was being very still and small, like she wasn’t sure if she should stay or not. Luke bit his lip, turning back to the curtains and focusing on securing them. Mother had drawn Asch down to her, murmuring softly, and the red curtain of his hair hung down like a flag in the late sunlight to say he was the _real_ Luke.

And Luke didn’t mind, not really — he’d wanted this — but he still didn’t understand why Asch was so against this.

With the curtains tied back and only so much more fiddling he could do, Luke fell back toward Natalia and tried not to pace, instead shifting his weight from foot to foot until Natalia nudged him. She didn’t say anything, only shook her head very minutely.

Luke felt very strongly that they shouldn’t be there, and that it was a good thing they couldn’t hear what Asch and Mother were saying, but sneaking out would probably draw _more_ attention. He hovered there, wishing there was something to do to make the look on Natalia’s face lighten, until finally Asch straightened and took a defensive step back.

Mother’s hand lingered in the air for some few moments after Asch stepped away.

“I should be going,” Asch said then, low and a little rough.

Mother tucked her hands together in her lap, folding her fingers over each other. “Do you need to be going so soon?”

“I told you,” he said, half-turned away. It was a tactical error; turning away from Mother meant Luke could see his face, and for once Asch looked outright conflicted. “There are things I need to do.”

Luke might not have argued for his own sake, but the way Mother looked down made something squeeze in his chest. That was probably why Asch was looking away. “You can take a few more hours, can’t you? With the Albiore— you can get back to where you were fast, the Jewel isn’t going to go anywhere—”

The conflicted look vanished in favor of glaring. “You—” A pause for readjustment, with the recollection that Mother was in the room. “—don’t know that for sure.”

And that was actually a fair criticism. Luke nodded, accepting, but he still hoped Asch would stay. “Just dinner, then?” Another careful pause, as he debated the next addition, but it couldn’t hurt. “Please?”

Asch twitched. It wasn’t Luke he was looking at after a few moments, though; it was Natalia.

“If you need to go, Luke,” Mother said, all quiet and regretful. “I understand. Thank you for coming.”

Asch squeezed his eyes shut, grit his teeth, and nodded.

Natalia lit up. “Thank you, Asch.”

He didn’t say anything to that. Maybe he didn’t trust himself to.

Mother brightened, too, though less notably than Natalia, and in a moment she got up carefully. “You’ll stay for dinner, then?”

“Fine.”

Maybe, Luke considered, Asch didn’t know how to be nice any more.

 

* * *

 

The little arrangements of dinner rather flew over Luke’s head. Mother spoke to Ramdas — who looked harried in the way only people who had just encountered an Anise whirlwind could — and a less-than-formal meal was arranged, and Luke’s friends duly invited because it would be rude otherwise. Guy’s status was considered and delicately stepped around; it would be a Diplomatic Occasion if they had a Count of Malkuth for dinner, so everyone generally agreed to pretend this was just Guy-Luke’s-friend, and since it wasn’t a _formal_ dinner, status mattered somewhat less.

Luke really hated the dimensions of politics. This was why Asch should just come back already; he had a head for the sort of thing required of noble sons. Luke… didn’t.

So it wasn’t formal, but Mother was going to insist they all sat down and were nice to each other. Good. Luke braced himself to be as polite as he knew how.

Unfortunately, the only open seat left by the time he got to the table was next to Asch. Natalia was on Asch’s other side, with Mother across the table. Luke realized too late that he could have sat next to Mother — he’d assumed that was Father’s seat, but Duke Fabre wasn’t in evidence — and the seat in question was being usurped by Anise, who settled between Jade and Mother with a bright grin.

Luke looked sidelong at Asch, assessing. Asch ignored him.

It was, all things considered, the better outcome.

Or maybe not; the result was a stilted silence Luke wasn’t entirely convinced was comfortable for anyone. Anise didn’t completely seem to care, but she kept darting frowning little glances over at Asch.

Jade _definitely_ didn’t care, and Luke didn’t like the speculative way he was looking over at Luke’s side of the table.

“Where’s—” Asch started, into the oppressive quiet, and then something occurred, and it seemed like he rearranged his thoughts. “…the Duke isn’t joining us?”

Mother shook her head. “He’s overseeing the movement of the White Knights, and the joining with Kimlasca’s forces.”

“…of course.” Now Asch just sounded slightly irritated, and Luke had no idea why. Was it just a soldier thing, making it impossible for other people to tell what you were thinking? But Anise was technically a soldier, and she made it pretty easy to tell when she was up to something.

Luke thought, anyway.

“Did you want to see him?” he asked aloud, not thinking beyond his confusion.

Asch’s mouth pulled flat. “…it doesn’t matter,” he said, as neutrally as Luke thought Asch knew how. There was a light kick at Luke’s shin, as if to make up for Asch’s lack of yelling.

Annoyed, Luke kicked back.

Asch twitched, and Natalia leaned forward just so she could shoot Luke a meaningful glare across Asch. Mother cleared her throat gently. “Why don’t you tell me about your journeys,” she said, somewhere between question and command. “I haven’t heard from either of you in a while.”

Luke couldn’t help but think of the way she’d reacted when hearing Luke would be going somewhere dangerous, and his mind went blank for anything that _wouldn’t_ concern her. He shot a slightly panicked glance sideways toward Asch — that was stupid, Asch wouldn’t have anything helpful — but instead of the anger Luke expected, he found— something more knowing.

Still irritated. He wouldn’t know Asch without the irritation. But for once Asch mirrored Luke in concern, in the unspoken agreement that they _couldn’t_ tell Mother some of where they’d been, not when she was only now feeling better.

Very slightly Luke nodded, and Asch glanced away with an impatient huff, but it was better than it might have been. “There isn’t much to say about Daath,” Asch said, a little offhandedly. “I’ve been— traveling to most of the passage rings.”

He stalled there. Luke could almost feel the same sensation of reaching for something suitable and completely failing to grasp it. “Where were you last?” he asked, adding, “I mean, we can’t have run into you at all of them.”

“Obviously not.” Asch started out snappish, bit it back to something more manageable. “Keterburg. The passage ring in the north.”

Luke didn’t think this was right, but he wasn’t about to argue this one either. They’d both been to the Roneal passage ring, anyway, so it wasn’t really a fabrication. “It’s really pretty there,” he added, trying to steer away from anything about fighting, avalanches, or god-generals. “Even if it is cold.”

“I’ve never seen it.” Mother sounded a little wistful. “Even before you were born, the tensions with Malkuth…”

“Of course,” Asch murmured.

Jade leaned an elbow on the table and offered a bright-eyed smile. “Perhaps if your health allows, in the future. I can speak with the governor.”

Sometimes, it was easy to forget the ties Jade had, with how much of a jerk he was.

Mother turned a curious look on Jade, and Luke breathed a short sigh, thankful for the distraction.

The relief lasted maybe two seconds before Asch had leaned over, dragging at Luke’s shoulder to get his attention. “Hey,” he said, near a whisper, and Luke understood that _dreck_ or _replica_ was to follow even if Asch didn’t voice it. “Mother never told you about the places she wanted to go, did she.”

Luke shook his head, mute. Asch didn’t seem to understand where Luke’s shortcomings were.

“Hmph.” Asch’s grip tightened for a second before he let go. “Follow my lead, then. _Don’t_ mention kidnapping or fighting.”

“I figured that out for myself, thanks,” Luke retorted, and tapped Asch’s ankle in an annoyed but impotent kick.

Asch hissed something probably rude.

“Luke?” Mother inquired.

The brewing squabble stopped immediately, with both Luke and Asch instantly attentive. “Yes?” Asch asked, and Luke put a smile on despite the fact that Asch had stepped on his toe.

Keterburg seemed like it was a safe enough topic. Asch talked about the snows, about the way the often-grey weather softened the green of the trees to something bluer, and when he faltered for something to say Luke chipped in with his own observations about the ice houses built in the main square, and how weird were those.

Asch stepped on his toe again at this point, and lectured, with a painful-looking smile, about how ‘unfamiliar’ did not mean ‘weird,’ and the architecture made perfect sense to those who lived in Keterburg.

Keterburg turned to Chesedonia turned to Grand Chokmah; Jade had more to say about this last, and Asch less, and Luke found himself talking about things he didn’t even remember he’d noticed, anything to avoid reminding Mother how much danger he was regularly in, and somewhere between the aqueducts and the rappigs Luke’s shoulders dropped and he stopped being _quite_ so hyper-aware of Asch next to him.

The light outside the windows darkened to a deep blue evening; the food was finished, plates cleared.

Surprising no one, Asch was the first to stand.

“You won’t stay the night?” Natalia sounded wistful, not exceptionally hopeful, as she arranged her cutlery tidily and pushed her own chair back.

Asch shook his head. “I can’t.”

Jade propped his chin in one hand and said nothing, in the way he had of watching.

“Are you sure?” Mother asked, with Natalia’s same wistfulness. Luke wished—

He wished a lot of things, most of which he wasn’t going to get.

“I told you before,” Asch said. There was an uncommon gentleness about him, and from this angle Luke could see it all too clearly when Asch swallowed hard and seemed — only for a second — to yearn. “There are things I have to do. I’ve already stayed too long. I—”

Weirdly, Luke thought he almost understood. It had been like coming home to someone else’s house, after his accidental trip with Tear. Everything had been the same, but it looked entirely different. And now, after Akzeriuth, after everything— less than a year, and Luke already felt like he was someone else.

How did Asch feel, after seven years?

That didn’t mean Asch shouldn’t come home, Luke decided. It just meant it was going to take a bit of time to get him used to the idea. He pushed his own chair back, standing up in support and distraction both. “We get it,” he said, waving his hand as though to wave Asch off. “It’s important stuff.”

Asch closed his mouth and looked at Luke with deep distrust.

It was Luke’s turn to shake his head at Asch. “It’s not like we’re going to stop you. It’s just—”

Words failed him for a moment, and the knowledge that Asch was going to run off again any moment didn’t help. Fortunately, Mother seemed to have some better grasp. “It’s all right,” she said, herself coming around the short end of the table toward them. Both Luke and Asch turned to face her as she came. “I’m just glad you were both able to come home at all, even if it’s only for this long.”

Asch submitted to Mother pulling him down for a light hug, though his eyes were squeezed shut again as if not looking could ward off the softness.

Mother held him at arms’ length a few moments after, with Asch not _quite_ looking at her. “Please remember, Luke,” she said softly. “Asch, if you prefer. You can always come home.”

Asch’s jaw worked, but he managed not to say anything, since it was Mother.

It was so _close_. For a moment Luke could see the end of things, what it would be like when Asch finally came home. Maybe they’d have trouble getting along, but Luke had always wanted to travel. Asch could be Luke again. Get to know Mother and Father and Natalia again.

It could work. Luke was smiling before he recognized that he was, and he didn’t bother trying to shove it away when he did notice it. He put a hand on Asch’s shoulder, a brief friendly clap which he yanked away before Asch could glare at him.

Natalia stepped up to say something to Asch, and Luke moved a bit away so he wouldn’t overhear too much. It wasn’t long, anyway. Asch bowed his head, and Natalia touched his hand, and they lingered only a little longer before Asch was turning around yet again, this time to go for the door.

Luke watched the door swing behind him, vaguely melancholy, and was so stuck on the feeling that he almost forgot he hadn’t thanked Asch. And maybe it didn’t matter, maybe Asch would still hate him, but it was still— important. “Hey, wait—!” he called out.

Asch was too far off. Luke bolted after him, at a pace that would definitely have people yelling at him for running inside if they weren’t occupied with dinner. “ _Asch.”_

Asch didn’t seem to feel like stopping, and Luke didn’t manage to catch him until they were at the front gate. “ _Hey_.”

“What.” Asch rounded on him. “Haven’t you had enough yet?”

Enough of what, Luke didn’t know and wasn’t going to ask. He held his hands up, palms open, trying for placating. “I’m not going to stop you.”

“As if you could.”

Luke huffed. “That’s not the point. Look, I just wanted to thank you.”

“Thank me.” Asch held anger in reserve, eying Luke suspiciously again.

“For coming back,” Luke clarified. “Even if it was just for a little while. You saw how happy it made Mother.”

Very slightly, Asch relaxed. “…yeah,” he said, folding his arms, and nothing more.

Luke searched fruitlessly for something to say. Asch hesitated about going.

At least in this they were agreed, Luke considered. It was a good common point to start with, making Mother happy.

Apart from everything else they were the same in.

“That was it,” Luke said, lifting a shoulder in an uncomfortable shrug. “Just… thanks.”

Asch nodded, slow and for once completely without anger. “…Don’t get used to it,” he said, but even then, he didn’t sound all that annoyed.

“I won’t, don’t worry.” Luke rolled his eyes and linked his hands behind his head, clearly intending to stay put.

Only a moment longer, Asch stood there watching him; then he turned, and went, and nothing stopped him this time.

“Come home again,” Luke said into the silent space after him.

The late evening didn’t answer, and Asch was gone, but Luke still felt all warm and hopeful. It was a start, wasn’t it? Maybe things could be different once they’d fixed everything.

He was smiling as he headed back inside. Yeah. Someday Asch would stay.

**Author's Note:**

>   * No one stopped me from titling this fic thusly, and they were given plenty of opportunity.
>   * Google "get-along shirt" if the reference isn't catching.
>   * As ever, thanks due to Pur and Am for informing me of typos and feelings.
>   * THIS IS FLUFF DAMMIT
>   * Written off the prompt "Luke and Asch trying to get along around other people," with a side of "funny with the Abyss cast." Can you tell where it got away from me?
> 



End file.
